Sharks sink errant Lions
7 Aug 2010
GRANT BALL reports on the Sharks’ 48-19 mauling of the Lions in Durban.
Pat Lambie played his first match for the senior side at flyhalf, and was up against fellow 19-year-old pivot Elton Jantjes. The pair traded penalties early on, but Lambie had most of the opportunities to show his credentials as his side had all the ball in the opening half. He directed play well and varied his game, and also wasn’t afraid to have a go at attacking the line himself – as shown when he ghosted over when he threw a dummy to flummox the defence.
The big difference between the pair was that Jantjes made a few unforced errors, but on the whole they were impressive.
That 8-3 lead after Lambie’s try was negated when Stefan Terblanche opted for a poor grubber. The ball found its way straight to Deon van Rensburg, who ran 50m to score to hand the Lions a 10-8 lead after they had little ball.
The Sharks led 18-16 at the break after the kickers traded penalties and Jacques Botes lunged over, but a two-point lead would have left John Plumtree seething. For all their dominance in possession, the Sharks couldn’t put the Lions away – who have a new-found resolve in the defence and some structure on attack under John Mitchell.
Jantjes kept his side in the contest with his unerring kicking at posts, but another mistake from the pivot – this time an intercept to Lwazi Mvovo – extended the Sharks’ lead. After 48 minutes the Sharks held a comfortable 28-19 lead.
In the end that was the difference between the sides as the Sharks were able to retain possession for long periods, while the Lions couldn’t do the same with similar confidence. After having so little ball in the first half, the Lions were desperate to retain possession and they tried to run from deep. But as the match dragged on the Lions lost their resolve and structure and it cost them again – this time another intercept from Jano Vermaak found its way to Craig Burden, who sprinted over from 30m for the bonus point try.
The hooker was replaced after 58 minutes when Bismarck du Plessis made his return to rugby after three months out with a neck injury. Du Plessis had a quiet run-out, gave away two penalties due to over-eagerness, and conceded a tighthead, but this was more about getting time on the park again.
Mvovo finished off his brace with another explosive run, while Lambie kicked his way to a personal haul of 28 points.
165 Comments
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8 Aug 2010, 10:41 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-149: Cut me deep Shrek…..
Yes, the 2 form teams in the comp at the moment. Let the best team win hey? Some of the youngsters in bothe teams showing up the older Bokke at the moment.
I always wondered if the Springbok team was chosen automatically from some form of quantitative ranking system, who would be in it at the moment. We all know many of the players currently in the team wouldn;t be there, but i always wonder who would. Kind of like the Ryder cup where the top x get automatically chosen and the captain has 2 wildcard choices, something like that….
8 Aug 2010, 11:21 am
I have been very disappointed in the Locks, Hargreaves is not very good at all, Sykes has improved his work load and is playing well. I would like to say well done to the Sharks for obtaining Ross Skeate, he is class and streaks ahead in this country, he will take some time to settle at the sharks in as do all players that are of his international level. The speed that he operates at as well as the work rate is great. At last the sharks have someone that has some brains in the forwards. The young hooker is great around the park, not good at set pieces and can not hold his own at the scrum.The loose players do not play with the ball but run and die. The game is about moving the ball.
8 Aug 2010, 12:10 pm
@Slumtown(Slumtown)-120: Well when you put it like that then theres loaqds of talent
Only reason no brussouw is because louw and deysel have performed this season and we havent seen how they compare to brussouw because of his injury
The hype around brussouw is abit much
Would be good if BJ came back to South Africa
Even if it is the sharks, but they have beast, jannie, smit, cilliers, herbst
Stormers team would be complete with BJ there but someone like cheetahs or lions would benefit greatly
8 Aug 2010, 12:20 pm
Interesting facts -
Of the 39 regular Sharks contracted players:-
Only 7 are from Durban;
18 from the Highveld;
The other 14 are from the Cape, Freestate and other areas.
Basically The Sharks are thieving from the Johannnesburg/Pretoria area.
8 Aug 2010, 12:25 pm
I’m still living in the hope that PDivvy will begin to wake up- no he won’t drop John Smit, tghe man owns his soul, but we might see some young blood.
Some honest facts:
1. Gurthro is the most complete LH in this country, followed by Coenie Oosthuisen. Beast is showing the effects of sitting on the bench for the Boks, yet we might see John Smit try to resurrect his legacy here. Hardly fair.
2. Gary Botha,, Tiaan Liebenberg, Adriaan Strauss, all better than Smit are clearly out of favour. Chilliboy, in spite of another kak game for the Bulls, and Bismarck ( two penalties in five minutes and battling to find his jumpers) clearly share the inside track with John Smit. Craig Burden is a major liability come scrumtime.
3. BJ is not bad but for my money there is realy only one tighthead in SA now- Werner Kruger, and I liked what Frik Kirsten showed for the Bulls, but again I reckon there won’t be many surprises with CJ and BJ being the go to guys.
4.Danie R is our only current fit worldclass 4, with Fondse coming along some. Flippie vd M is blowing hot and cold for me and is very penalty prone, but has his foot in the door and will probably be preferred. Steven Sykes has lost a lot of the hard edge to his game, and it’s about here where we need to start praying for the return of Bakkies in a sound frame of mind.
5. Truth is , with Bekker out, there is only one name here and that is Victor, and then there is Juandre Kruger if we start prepping him now, and the best way of doing this is to let him play CC for now. Alistair Hargreaves shows some promise, but continues to flatter to deceive.
6. Without Brussow and Stegmann here, we are battling and the closest thing to a fetcher here would have been Flouw, but he is completely out of sorts at the moment. He was totally out of it for Province yesterday, so I would be concerned if I were him. Anyone trying to tell me Keegan Daniel and Pieter Louw are fetchers need to have their heads read. Best option as fetcher here is Botes but PDivvy would probably prefer Schalk Burger for his experience and defense, which I for one can’t argue with. Sadly Daniel is very skillful to the extent that every now and then he will embarrass opposition sides, but there is no true consistency. I don’t shoot him down for his size, but for his lack of consistency.
7. This is a no-brainer and it is not because Juan Smith is back, because he isn’t- not yet anyway. The best 7 by a country mile on form is Potties, and he is growing in stature with every game. Deysel has just shown again he has feet of clay, or an achilles heel or both and with Juan Smith not a shadow of the great player he was, the options are limited, with Pieter Louw probably the only other guy with the kind of all round game to cover here.
8. I must say I have been Pierre Spies’ harshest critic for his lack of gumption, and I stand by that, in spite of knowing he will still be preferred. He has the speed and strength, but somehow he lacks the heart. Kanko to me is not a test player because he simply goes awol when the going gets tough. We saw it versus Oz again last test when he was unfairly, for him, started at 7. Hence I have tended to lean towards Duanne Vermeulen, but ironically, in the last two games for Province he has disappointed me. He lacks speed in his game which diminishes his impact, and yeterday Willem Alberts highlighted the same shortcoming in his own game. He has all the physicality and skill and commitment, but he lacks the edge due to a lack of pace, which is much the same problem as I have with Deysel at 7. If PDivvy is going to go for Juan Smith at 7 , he could do a lot worse than play Potties at 8.
9. In spite of everything going for him, Hougard is still a little raw for a test scrummie, but his guts and tigerishness should compensate for his lack of finesse. He remains a far better option than January, who I hope will be whitled from our game. For now though Ricky might still be preferred as cover. Sarel Pretorius has shown flashes of brilliance, coupled with the odd disturbing crack under pressure which borders almost on panic, and Dewald Duvenhage has failed to impress me sufficiently with especially his optiontaking and kicking game needing a lot of work. I would then rather go for a playmaker like Conrad Hoffmann who in spite of his total inexperience has the skills and heart and panache to come through.
10. Whether we like it Morne steyn has to be the go-to man for now, until we can blood the duo of youngsters we have in Jantjies and Lambie. JLPotgieter has also shown touches of brilliance, but he also makes himself guilty of bad optiontaking with ball in hand, and his defense is suspect as well. I must say I would tend to pick both youngsters and blood them. Jantjies’ tackle on Deysel surely has dispelled the myth that he shirks his duties come tackle-time. I know they are young but they both have it, and if you’re good enough you should be old enough- straight from the Oz playbook. But we will probably see Butch James hang onto his Bok spot given our relative inexperience at 9.
11. Then out of form Habana might find himself holding on to his place for his experience, but with the emergence of one Lwazi Mvovo I would dtart to look over my shoulder if I were him.
12. The axe might have finally fallen on Wynand Olivier in spite of the fact that I rate him. He just might be saved by the fact that Mossie still has a game to sit out. We will probably see Jean de Villers hold retain his precarious purchase on a Bok spotas well, but only for the sake of partnering Juan de Jongh in Mossie’s absense, and he will probably be the first to admit that.
13. Juan de Jongh should be a shoe in along with Jacque Fourie.
14. Aplon is the incumbent and has done nothing to warrant any concern about his presence come the time for the team to be read out. JP Petersen will probably be added in, and no-one can really complain.
15. Zane Kirchner for me is a banker in the side, but P Divvy might pull in Francois Steyn now that Ruan Pienaar is gone. It would make sense to include him at the expense of Butch and the two youngsters at 10, but somehow I doubt that.
8 Aug 2010, 13:12 pm
@catleya(catleya)-155:
Interesting facts…..Bwahahahaha…….facts that you just sucked out your _ _ s?
8 Aug 2010, 13:31 pm
@jonnow(jonnow)-156: The smell might not work for you but it is a true as it comes. What do you disagree with, then we can see who is the wishfuull thinker come the team announcement.
8 Aug 2010, 14:48 pm
To be honest Catlea, not that much. Just amused at you passing off your rambling opinions as “interesting facts”.
8 Aug 2010, 14:54 pm
Which goes to show, it is much more fact and and a lot less opinion. But then that’s just opinion as well.
Jokes aside though, most of these so-called opinions have panned out so clearly and so regularly in practice that one can hardly be blamed for regarding then as fact. Which makes one wonder how the coaches and selectors keep missing the trick.
8 Aug 2010, 14:55 pm
@Rhys7(Rhys7)-153: Wait till brussouw comes back and gets in form. Youll rue those words. He is on a par with McCaw and theres no player in SA apart from him thats on a par with McCaw. Thats saying a HUGE amount. His defence is rabid, he steals ball and makes a nuisance of himself at rucks and is a strong ball carrier and offloads excellently in the tackle. Mark my words. Watch what happens when he comes back into the mix. He is in the same class as FDP, Victor Matfield etc in being a master of his particular art. He has been missed enormously.
8 Aug 2010, 15:08 pm
@Slumtown(Slumtown)-160:
Agree with you 100% on Brussouw. Still remember how he single handedly beat the Sharks a year or two ago in a S14 game.
Just my opinion.
9 Aug 2010, 07:27 am
Do the math with the other teams Great White Shark…not just the sharks that are buying guys….Did the same excercise with the Bulls…enjoy……!
9 Aug 2010, 09:51 am
The Bulls too?
9 Aug 2010, 11:48 am
Maybe we should see the stats on all the Currie Cup teams’ players?
What Brussouw did in the past may be completely negated by how the refs have been told to blow the games. This only the AB’s Paddy O’ Brien decides.
10 Aug 2010, 09:13 am
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-154: I would be interested to know;
Of the regular contracted players in the WP/Stormers sides, how many are ‘from’ the Western Cape ?
And, please define ‘from’i.e does ‘from’ mean they were born there, go to school there, university ?
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